Ravens bully the Steelers in the first half and don’t look back in 28-14 wild-card victory

By Kyle Feldscher, CNN

Baltimore, Maryland (CNN) — The Baltimore Ravens are going to go as far as Derrick Henry and Lamar Jackson can carry them. And if Saturday night’s dominant win over the Pittsburgh Steelers is any indication, that could take them all the way to New Orleans.

The thunder-and-lightning duo highlighted a Baltimore running attack that went for a team postseason record of 299 yards, pacing the Ravens to a 28-14 win over their AFC North rivals.

Henry ran for 186 yards on 26 tough carries, punishing the Steeler defense repeatedly with tough runs right into the teeth of the defensive line. He found the right seams, breaking for a long touchdown run and a shorter bruiser for his two scores.

Jackson meanwhile was electric as only he can be. He rushed 15 times for 81 yards while also completing 16 of 21 passes for 175 yards and two touchdowns. The rowdy 70,000 fans at M&T Bank Stadium routinely serenaded their star with chants of “M-V-P!” and it’s hard to make the case that anyone else is truly better than the dual-threat quarterback when he’s on top of his game.

Jackson said after the game that Henry reminded him of Lighting McQueen from the movie “Cars.”

“You know when Lightning McQueen just flying, flashing past?” Jackson said. “That’s how Derrick looks when he’s passing all those guys. And it look like a movie, bro.”

“Everyone sees it like, I just hand the ball off and (smacks hands together) 10 yards, 20 yards, 30 yards,” he added, “And I’m just chilling, you know? So now, when they attacking him then I go (and) I’m fresh. It makes my job a lot easier.”

Jackson and Henry simply ran through, around and over the Steelers’ defense on a massive drive to start the game, going 95 yards to open the scoring. The biggest play of the drive was Henry taking a direct snap and finding a seam in the Steelers’ front seven, bursting for 34 yards in a play that was punctuated by a brutal stiff arm that sent Steelers star safety Minkah Fitzpatrick reeling. Head coach John Harbaugh said that play was put into the playbook specifically for this game against the Steelers.

But the score came on Jackson making an MVP-level throw to Rashod Bateman, cutting across the middle of the Pittsburgh defense in the back of the end zone. Bateman caught the ball and rolled through, securing it to put the Ravens up 7-0.

The drive set the tone for the rest of the game as Henry and Jackson used their legs to punish the Steelers’ defense.

The sequence that best told the story was an 85-yard, 13-play drive in the second quarter that featured exactly zero passes. Jackson broke loose for a big 19-yard run that left him feeling some discomfort, but it didn’t seem to slow him down as he scrambled for gains on the next two plays before handing the ball off to Henry for another bruising run as the Ravens neared the red zone.

“I just think Lamar was seeing it, and he was doing a great job of pulling it and making plays and getting the most out of a play,” Henry said in the locker room after the game. “And guys did a great job blocking for it to open up.”

A sweep to Henry put the Ravens inside the 10-yard line after a 17-yard pickup and the Steelers defense seemed to have no answer for the punishing running attack.

Henry pounded through the tackles one more time to get into the end zone, putting an exclamation point on a physically dominating drive.

“I was focused on doing my job each and every play. Credit to the offensive line, doing a great job. Tight ends, receivers and fullbacks blocking for me and for us to have a successful offense,” he said.

And when the Ravens wanted to move fast, they could do that too. Just before halftime, Jackson led his offense down the field in 1:51, punctuating an incredible first half with a third touchdown to put Baltimore up 21-0 going into the break.

“He runs around and finds a touchdown pass. And I think I just think in his head, he knows what 11 seconds is,” Harbaugh said. “It goes a little faster for me, I was like, ‘Throw that thing away!” You know, it’s like, all I could say is wow.”

The Steelers looked a bit more lively coming out of the locker room, stopping Baltimore on their first drive before getting on the board for the first time with a 30-yard pass from Russell Wilson to wide receiver Van Jefferson.

It was the first sign of life for Pittsburgh, and the Ravens looked to stamp it out immediately on the following drive. Returning to the run game, Henry found a seam in the Pittsburgh defense and took a 44-yard run to the house that seemed to put Baltimore on easy street.

Wilson wasn’t going away though. Having found success going over the top of the Ravens defense on the Steelers’ first drive of the second half, Wilson went back to that strategy and connected with wideout George Pickens for another long touchdown, this time for 36 yards making the score 28-14. The Steelers held the Ravens to their first three-and-out of the game on the next drive and suddenly Pittsburgh looked back in business.

But the Ravens defense stiffened at the right time, sacking Wilson with defensive tackle Nnamdi Madubuike delivering a crunching sack on a third-down play to force a punt as the third quarter came to an end.

The Ravens went back to their tough ground game to eat up some more clock before punting the ball back to the Steelers midway through the quarter.

A nice return from Calvin Austin III put the ball at the Steelers 25-yard line with 8:36 to go in the game and Pittsburgh needing two touchdowns. An appearance from Ravens legend Ray Lewis got the fans hyped up before the critical drive, a must-score sequence for the Steelers.

Another big pass from Russell Wilson to Pickens, this one for 26 yards to move the ball to the Baltimore 38-yard line, put the Steelers in a threatening position. Having found no luck on the ground, the Steelers have turned almost exclusively to the deep pass in the second half as their offensive threat and found success.

But the thing about those pass plays is that they need time to develop. Another sack, this one from Odafe Oweh, put the Steelers in a tough position. Left with a fourth-and-15 play, Wislon went over the top again into triple coverage in the end zone. The pass was knocked down by Ar’Darius Washington, turning the ball back over to the Ravens offense.

The combination of Jackson and Henry took the ball right into the teeth of the Steeler defense and found success. Jackson picked up a big first down on a third-and-short to keep the drive moving near midfield, and – not for the first time in the game – came looking like he was in some pain.

“It’s kind of the Ravens way too,” Harbaugh said of the tough style of football played on Saturday. “I think if you look back, you look at Baltimore, you know, since 2000 … it’s been the run, defense, special teams. But Lamar’s added a little flavor to that whole thing and we’re throwing the ball well too.”

A defensive holding penalty on the Steelers gave the Ravens a free first down with a little more than three minutes to go. One play later, a sweep to Henry nearly picked up another as the running back powered for eight yards and only just was stopped from taking it to the house.

Instead, the Ravens just picked up one more crucial third down on a direct snap to tight end Mark Andrews and were able to take a knee to ice it.

If the Ravens continue to block and run the way they did on Saturday night, it’s hard to find a defense in the NFL that’s going to be able to stop them.

There was little back-patting in the locker room after the game as the Ravens looked forward to Sunday’s slate of games and figuring out whether they’ll play at home or on the road next week, but to Jackson it doesn’t matter.

“It don’t matter. We’ve been on the road all season, we ready,” he said.

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